Fantasy Sports: TV & Internet Combined

(found in Google image search)
My boyfriend is in a Fantasy Football league and this season, they needed an extra person to play the game. Being the awesome girlfriend that I am, I agreed to take part in the league, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

In a nutshell, this is how the game is played. One day, all ten of us in the league got together and held a draft. We all took turns picking players from the NFL that we wanted on our teams. Once the real football season started, we would choose which players on our team would play and which would be benched. How our players do in Fantasy Football depends on how well they do in real life. For example, in week 1, one of my wide receivers got injured and is out for the rest of the season which means I can't use him at all anymore in Fantasy Football. Another example is one of my running backs broke his toe but still continued to play for a weeks. He did a pretty lousy job in real life and probably would earn me only a couple points in Fantasy Football. So if a player scores in real life and they are on your fantasy team, then you score. If your player drops the ball or throws an interception, then you lose points. Simple as that.

Fantasy sports is a merging of the internet and sports TV. Scores get updated on Fantasy Football in real time, so as you are watching a game on TV, the points on your fantasy team are fluctuating. I don't know how Fantasy Football started but I think it is a great advertising technique for the NFL. You have to watch and pay attention to the all the teams in the NFL to be able to keep track of your own players in the Fantasy league. So not only does sports TV get more viewers, these fantasy sport sites get more hits.

I have always loved football but haven't really paid much to attention to the NFL in years. Being the competitive person that I am, I religiously check my fantasy football team each day to make sure no one got injured or is sick or can't play. I also find myself watching specific games when I know my players are on the field. Being in this fantasy league has definitely increased my participation in watching football.

And in case you are curious, my team is doing horrible. My excuse is that this is my first time playing and I'm just going to have to watch more football next year.

The Touch Screen Phenomena

I am one to admit that I am a crackberry (a Blackberry smartphone addict). I've always been afraid to get one because they just look too confusing with the millions of buttons it has and all the menu icons and junk it does. But then one day last year, my cheap Samsung phone broke and my friend who worked at T-Mobile said he would give me a deal on a Blackberry. I was hesitant at first and even hated the phone for the first few days. But now I am in love for I have met my cellular match.

I've had my Blackberry for over a year now and times have change. My sweet little phone is much outdated and is in severe need of an upgrade. The first place I looked was Blackberry.com and found that they are now offering a touch screen phone called the Storm.

ugh.

Should that I say that again?

UGH!

I hate touch screen phones! I would consider myself a pretty tech savvy person but I just don't get what the hype is about with these phones. When the iPhone first came out a few years ago, I thought it was a cool idea. Then the iPod Touch was introduced (which looks and works just like the iPhone minus the actual phone part) and I bought one right away... only to find out how much I hate typing on those things. I push the little "A" button but "S" pops up. If I were to dial 911, 022 might accidentally show up. I try to type my name but it looks something like "Sbbor" because my fat little fingers can't hit the right key (which amuses me because I have relatively small hands, I often wonder how people with larger hands operate these things).

These phones offer internet. That's kind of cool. Oh wait, despite the connection (WiFi or 3g) web pages still load painfully slow because people forget that they are using a phone, not a computer. I have so many other things to complain about but okay... Blackberry is offering a new phone. Maybe I should stay loyal to the brand and just check it out.

Then I came across this review and all my complaints of touch screen phones are justified. The Storm lags because of the internet connection and typing just doesn't get any easier. UGH. I checked out the T-Mobile website for other options on phones but their featured phones are the G1 Google TOUCH SCREEN phone and the Samsung Behold which is also a touch screen.

People need to realize a cell phone is called a phone for a reason. Even though I'm all for text messaging and email on a phone, we often forget that all this technology is making communication between friends and family less personable.

Happy Holidays Everyone! err... I mean Christmas?

(found in Google image search)

So I honestly don't know how I came across the AFA (American Family Association) but I was bored at work today so I did a little internet surfing.

Do you know who this organization is or what they even do? Me neither. So I checked out their website (Click here!) and according to my findings, they are the "largest pro-family action site." A major issue the organization wants people to take action on is how different companies advertise for the holidays/Christmas.

The AFA made a naughty and nice list: Click here!

The good list consists of retailers that use the word "Christmas" in their advertising, catalogs, and stores for the month of December. The naughty list includes stores that use the word "holiday" and refrain from depicting a single belief like Christmas.

The whole point of this naughty/nice list is to encourage all retail stores to advertise solely for Christmas. They even recommend that everyone should contact these "naughty" companies and complain to the higher ups to enforce change.

The United States has always been considered a melting pot of different races, religions, and beliefs. As an Asian American, Buddhist female, who happens to be a shopaholic, sometimes the word Christmas in advertising doesn't attract my attention. People tend to drift towards people, music, products, etc... they can relate to and not everyone in the U.S. can relate to the Christianity aspect of the holiday Christmas.

Retail stores are being general in the words they use for advertising because they want to include everyone and how they celebrate the season. Stores that use only the word "Christmas" are leaving out a large portion of the population.

Kiddies and the Interweb

A few class periods ago, we watched "Growing Up Online" and it really got me thinking that kids today think they know everything, but they don't. My parents always told me that when I was growing up and I'll be honest, I thought they were full of crap. But sitting here in front of the computer today as a 22 year old, I can now see my parents are a lot wiser than I thought they were.

I discovered the internet when I was about 12 years old. I would get bored and go into chat rooms with aliases I created and talked to random "cute" boys from all over the country. Back then there was no Myspace or Facebook but there was a site called AsianAvenue (the old school Asian version of Myspace) that I had a personal web page on. But I was one of the "smart" kids. I didn't put my whole name or where I was from on it so there's no way anyone can stalk me... right?

Well maybe I got lucky. But some teens aren't...


(found in Google image search)
I came across this article linked in Yahoo! News: Jury to Hear About Suicide in MySpace Cyber-Hoax Trial. In a nutshell, it's about a 13 year old girl who met a "cute 16 year old boy" (who was actually a woman posing as a boy) on Myspace and exchanged messages with "him" back and forth. In the end, the "boy" told the 13 year old girl that the world was better off without her. The girl reacted to this by hanging herself.

Reading articles like this makes me sad. Because kids today grow up with the internet, they think everything they find is real. They are so so so naive. They think they know everything... but they really don't. Parents really do have a reason to worry, and the 13 year old girl's suicide justifies that fear. Things really do happen sometimes; it could happen to anyone.

So for all the kiddies out there, be careful. Just be careful because you never know who you can trust on the interweb.

Republicans on SNL

Disclaimer: My political views play no part in the writing of this blog :)

I just came across this Yahoo! article on McCain stating he just appeared on Saturday Night Live, poking "fun at his cash-strapped campaign and [he] got in a few digs at rival Barack Obama." Sarah Palin had also previously been on the show on October 18th, "drawing [SNL's] largest audience since 1994."


(found in Google image search)
Because Obama has been targetting college campuses for support in his campaign, he has been considered among students as the "cooler" candidate. I feel like John McCain and Sarah Palin are trying to gain more popularity with the younger voters and Saturday Night Live was their attempt. I call it an attempt because I don't think they are getting the kind of publicity they are hoping for. Don't get me wrong, Sarah Palin was a hit (expecially since both the real Palin and Tina Fey's impersonation of Palin were in the skit at the same time). But showcasing Palin's down to earth personality and hockey mom image is not enough to increase her capability (at least in the public eye) of being the next Vice President of the United States.

John McCain's appearance on SNL could actually be damaging to their popularity. Although the skit was all in fun, McCain jokes about not having enough money to have a 30 minute infomercial like Obama, but is able to make a stint in the QVC shopping channel. As a young voter myself, hearing something like that turns me off from their campaign. Thinking the Republicans don't have enough money to advertise/promote (however you want to look at it) like the Democrats do decreases their credibility in my mind (but then again, that could just be me). In our society, it is not uncommon to equate money with success. Using that philosophy, since the Democrats have more money (as McCain joked), wouldn't that mean the Democrats are more likely to be successful?

If I were McCain or Palin, I'd change the way I'm getting my face out to the public... yeah... I can't help but shake my head.